White people have constructed society and culture in such a way that we get to wear an empowering cloak of 'invisibility'... we're the 'absent, unspoken centre' of things, the socially constructed norm that almost without exception goes 'unmarked'. Because that's how our white progenitors constructed the world... to make themselves appear 'simply normal', with no finger being pointed at them to highlight them as outsiders, as anything other than 'the way people should be' (with 'white people' thereby defining themselves as 'all people').
I suppose it depends on which society one's talking about. I think you're smart enough to not fall into that pre-conception; of speaking from the perspective of a European nation where it may be valid. A legacy of western, white imperialism has been to stamp a decidedly caucasian (in nature even if not always in 'colour') hierarchy in many parts of the the world though this isn't the case everywhere. The backlash when it happened, has on occasion, been ugly.
When people start waving around epithets that make people stand out, they need to be very sure of their audience. It's one thing for two friends who might know each other well to bandy about a phrase like 'shameless negro', but on the internet.. and at a time when everyone's feelings are heated.. it's really not going to be taken lightly.
I agree. I think that particular comment was made with the express intention provoking the response it did, in that sense it achieved its end. The fact that is was made in a time of 'stress' doesn't per se make it more, or less offensive, merely well timed. Given the apparent hostility between Arliss and Lex, I have no doubt that was factored into the equation, on both sides.
And if ever you feel the finger of exclusion pointing at you, you're hurt in a way that runs deep, because it's hurt on a level that's been drummed into us both consciously and subconsciously by our culture since birth.
Well
that rather depends on the culture one has been brought up in. We all have our predjudices, to deny that is to deny Human nature. It's in the nature of even small children to run with a pack, to ostracise, even bully those that are perceived as 'different'. How much of
that is instinctive, how much is learned. More relevant here, as adults, how much can we 'unlearn'?
Mostly, it's far more subtle than a phrase like 'shameless Negro', though. Like the recent thread about (and I quote) "a black woman" who let her babies die while she went for a snack. Would anyone have written that it was "a white woman" who did this? No, they'd have simply said it was "a woman". Because white people have that option, of going unmarked, unlabelled.
I recall that thread, and it caught my attention too. I thought about asking why the woman's skin colour was considered relevant but with the bloodletting going on elsewhere I decided to let it alone.
It's not about being PC, it's about looking at the deeper socio-cultural and semantic structures which enable bigotry and exclusion of all kinds. And it's about realising that most labels are defined through opposition.. by being applied when people 'fail' to fit the (unspoken, unwritten, majority-defined) 'norm'. Thus, they all carry the potential to come across as finger-pointing unless used with due caution, care, and consideration --- because they 'mark' people.. both symbolically, and literally.
PC is all too often a convenient placeholder for people unwilling to address fundamental tenets and realities and hide their insecurities and bias behind a cosy fuzziness. In
that sense it's self defeating, in others because it merely draws attention to its own incongruity.
Disclaimer; the following comments relate to my experience is not meant to represnent the 'norms' of any one society in any way other than I have interacted with them.
The hoops people jump through to avoid causing offense, where none would be caused from merely being honest. The very act of denying the reality of the person in front of them by seeking a friendly pidgenhole in which to place them is surely a far bigger insult than accepting them as they are. At least that's so if what many people tell me is anything to go by.
I spend much of my life in a culture (not in the UK) that is almost exclusively black. In conversation, if I referred to other people I've interacted with as 'people of colour' I'd be met with puzzlement, or worse as a rascist merely for having done so. The PC concept is for the most part, simply lost on many. I can't confirm that response from
personal experience, only vicariously because it's simply never entered my head to describe someone with that epithet. I'd feel stupid. In other situations, in other cultures that may not be the case. I'd still feel stupid, but that's a secondary concern to causing inadvertant offence.
But, what's even
more stupid is that (here at LPSG) just by relating the above I open myself up to a broad range of accusations, for having described which is in my life, a simple reality. Please, try to accord it no more weight than that.
People are what they are; there is a rascist undercurrent in many black cultures that some here (and elsewhere) are loathe to admit, but at the same time happy to point out any perceived racism in it's 'traditionally' perceived guise. Usually citing 'rarity' as a mitigating factor for denial. Bullshit, people are people and
people have racist tendencies regardless of their skin colour.
The predominately white power balance in many of western societies Alex8 referred to tends to cloud that reality. Many Whites are afraid to call out racism from minorities either for fear of a counter claim, guilt, or some other reason. Often they retreat behind some 'PC' subterfuge which avoids them having to deal with the issue at all.
This is echoed by most of my friends, black, white and coloured (itself a perjorative when used by blacks in some social situations) who, if they had to pick a label would be hard pushed to think of label, would use anything other than Mzungu, unless the intent
was to insult. In short, it's not an offensive classification in the sense it's generally used, merely convenient. There isn't really a single complimentary term, that I'm aware of. Gringo is another term, referred to by Wldhoney, there many others. Some people take offence, I don't unless it's clearly meant to offend, there are bigger things to worry about.
In the final analysis, we're
all people of colour. The point being that in some cultures, Alex8's 'norm', isn't. Rather, it's a different norm.